Examples from Plastics Industry

In this section, each of the nine elements in the sustainability matrix will be defined and illustrated using practical feasible examples from the plastics industry. In most instances, the examples given have actually been implemented, sometimes even at an 

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As emphasized throughout this book, many different types of auxiliary equipment and secondary operations can be used to maximize overall processing plant productivity and efficiency. Their proper selection, use, and maintenance are as important as the selection of the processing machines (injection molder, extruder, etc.). The processor must determine what is needed, from upstream to downstream, based on what the equipment has to accomplish, what controls are required, ease of operation and maintenance, safety devices, energy requirements, compatibility with existing equipment, and so on. This chapter provides examples of this selection procedure and its importance in evaluating all the equipment required in a processing line. Details on all the equipment that is available can be obtained from plastics industry trade publications, usually compiled in an annual issue. These and other pertinent publications are included in the reference section (1-4, 33, 271-289). 

Aldehydes fiad the most widespread use as chemical iatermediates. The production of acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, and butyraldehyde as precursors of the corresponding alcohols and acids are examples. The aldehydes of low molecular weight are also condensed in an aldol reaction to form derivatives which are important intermediates for the plasticizer industry (see Plasticizers). As mentioned earlier, 2-ethylhexanol, produced from butyraldehyde, is used in the manufacture of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate [117-87-7]. Aldehydes are also used as intermediates for the manufacture of solvents (alcohols and ethers), resins, and dyes. Isobutyraldehyde is used as an intermediate for production of primary solvents and mbber antioxidants (see Antioxidaisits). Fatty aldehydes Cg—used in nearly all perfume types and aromas (see Perfumes). Polymers and copolymers of aldehydes exist and are of commercial significance. 

Increasingly, guidelines resulting from political decision process of the European Union influence national markets and global competition. In order to have an influence on behalf of the interests of the plastics industry, the Association of Plastics Producing Industries, (VKE), is reported to wish to intensify its communication with European political institutions. The VKE sees the discussion about the EU book on the environmental problems relating to PVC as particularly controversial, and does not consider that it takes important points of view sufficiently into account. The treatment of the PVC theme, is examined as an example of so-called europisation of the work of associations. (Article translated from Kunststoffe 91 (2001) 4, pp.26-27). 

The status of chemists in the eyes of executives was boosted by the successes of chemists in fields such as plastics, petrochemicals, and synthetic textiles. The industry s growing demand for trained chemists forged a new relationship with many academic chemistry departments. For example, universities supplied industry with chemists and with basic research to supplement work done in industrial laboratories. In turn, industry provided financial support to chemistry departments. Many of the increasing number of chemistry students in American universities were supported by pre- and post- doctoral fellowships from chemical corporations (Thackray et al., 1985). 

Our consistent need to improve our daily lives also led to unanticipated industrial developments. For example, the production of automobiles led to expansion of the oil production (or vice versa) and metal working industries, both of which account for pollution by several compounds cited on the contaminant list. The chemical processing industry has been responsible for many items we now consider the essentials of modem life. From plastics to modem electronic devices, the chemical industry has guided and benefited from developments and also exerted colinear effects on the contamination of air and water. Again, the development of remediation technologies is needed to establish an acceptable equilibrium. 

As it was recognized that the number of variations included in many test method standards was not helpful in respect of obtaining input for databases, there was an initiative in the plastics industry that produced international standards for acquisition and presentation of single and multipoint data. These specify the particular test methods and test conditions to produce strictly comparable data. Very recently, this approach has been taken up in ISO TC 45 and drafts circulated based on British standards4, 5. These standards are not explicit about including thermoplastic elastomers and, as discussed in Chapter 2, Section 9, an acquisition standard for these materials has been proposed in ISO TC 61, Plastics. An example of the problems resulting from lack of consensus on test methods was evident for EPDM polymers and the results of collaboration to rectify this have been published6. 

For example, the Franco-American company Rhodia notes that REACH has reinforced its efforts in developing product stewardship programmes and reviewing SDS [526]. Similarly, the Swedish Chemical and Plastic Industry Federation has responded to REACH by launching a major initiative to improve SDS information supplied by its companies [527]. From the other end of the risk communication chain, the Dutch-American company Rohm and Haas has responded with a scheme for collecting data on the chemical contents of its upstream raw materials [528]. 

At one time the mother-of-pearl button industry was huge indeed it was so big that it almost wiped out entire populations of freshwater mussels in North America. The industry was in turn almost kUled off by the advent of plastics. Today some buttons are still produced in the Far East and are made mostly from trochus shell. A few more exotic - and expensive - examples from other shells are also manufactured. 

Most people are familiar with CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and how they eventually became doomed as an input into modern industrial products. Ironically, these compounds were initially introduced as environmentally perfect alternatives due to their nontoxic and nonbioaccumulative nature. This is one of many examples of decisions - in this case about safe materials - that have been made on large scale, only to be followed by a late awakening and significant costs to society and individual organizations. Some of the more recent examples now looming on the horizon may be even worse due to their direct impacts on humans - antibiotic-resistant strains of microbes from antibiotics in biota, hampered kidney function from cadmium in foods, and endocrine disruption from plastic additives, to mention just a few. 

Although electrostatic separation (static or high intensity) has not been applied widely in solid waste treatment at the industrial level, it is expected to be of wider use in the future in certain sectors of applications. This separation has been successfully applied to separate plastics from paper, plastics from each other, shredded copper wires from their plastic insulation, glass from plastic, nonferrous metals from plastic, or glass, for example. 

After the war the oil companies followed the example of their industry s leading enterprise, Jersey Standard, and began to redefine their strategic boundaries to include fabrics, specialized plastics, fertilizers, and other businesses. By the 1970s these petrochemical enterprises realized that the barriers to entry created by the long-established chemical companies were too high to overcome. So they retreated and instead concentrated on feedstocks, intermediates, and commodity polymers. The oil companies that successfully redefined their boundaries received a quarter of their revenues from petrochemicals. 

For example, to produce 1 output, the plastics and synthetic materials industry 28 requires input from 58 industries. It requires the most input from industrial and other chemicals (33.2 cents), paper and allied products (1.1 cents), and wholesale and retail trade (4.3 cents). Table 4.11 lists the five largest suppliers of sectors 8,9-1- 10, 24, 27A, and 28, as well as 29A and 29B, in terms of dollar of direct input per total dollar output. 

A very important reaction, especially in the plastics industry, is addition polymerization, in which alkene molecules add to themselves to form long chains, for example, from CH3CH = CH2 ... 

Commercial linear polyethylene, the most commonly used type of plastic, was bom more than half a century ago with the accidental discovery at Phillips Petroleum Company that chromium oxide supported on silica can polymerize a-olefins.1 The same catalyst system, modified and evolved, is used even today by dozens of companies throughout the world, and it accounts for a large share of the world s high-density polyethylene (HDPE) supply, as well as some low-density polymers. The catalyst is now more active and has been tailored in numerous ways for many specialized modem applications. This chapter provides a review of our understanding of the complex chemistry associated with this catalyst system, and it also provides examples of how the chemistry has been exploited commercially. It is written from an industrial perspective, drawing especially on the commercial experience and the research of numerous scientists working at Phillips Petroleum... 

The styrene plastics industry has emerged over the past 30 years to become a major worldwide business. The industry has grown because the excellent balance of mechanical properties and processability of styrene plastics allow it to fill diverse market needs. The advent of workable industrial processes for both monomer and polymer and the fact that styrene plastics were made from once inexpensive raw materials have likewise contributed to the growth of the industry. In spite of the relative maturity of the science and the industry, styrene plastics remain a fruitful area for research. For example, the development of new materials having unique properties, such as fire and heat resistance, and the development of efficient energy and material-saving fabrication processes are expected to be the subject of extensive study in the future. 

The biochemical reaction catalyzed by epoxygenase in plants combines the common oilseed fatty acids, linoleic or linolenic acids, with O2, forming only H2O and epoxy fatty acids as products (CO2 and H2O are utilized to make linoleic or linolenic acids). A considerable market currently exists for epoxy fatty acids, particularly for resins, epoxy coatings, and plasticizers. The U.S. plasticizer market is estimated to be about 2 billion pounds per year (Hammond 1992). Presently, most of this is derived from petroleum. In addition, there is industrial interest in use of epoxy fatty acids in durable paints, resins, adhesives, insecticides and insect repellants, crop oil concentrates, and the formulation of carriers for slow-release pesticides and herbicides (Perdue 1989, Ayorinde et al. 1993). Also, epoxy fatty acids can readily and economically be converted to hydroxy and dihydroxy fatty acids and their derivatives, which are useful starting materials for the production of plastics as well as for detergents, lubricants, and lubricant additives. Such renewable derived lubricant and lubricant additives should facilitate use of plant/biomass-derived fuels. Examples of plastics that can be produced from hydroxy fatty acids are polyurethanes and polyesters (Weber et al. 1994). As commercial oilseeds are developed that accumulate epoxy fatty acids in the seed oil, it is likely that other valuable products would be developed to use this as an industrial chemical feedstock in the future. 

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